The Dallas Business Journal is revealing the 60 finalists for the Best Real Estate Deals of 2019, in addition to the program's Lifetime Achievement Award winner.
Judges from various sectors of commercial real estate vetted nominations that featured the very best of what the industry had to offer in 2019. After reading nominations, judges evaluated deals and then met to discuss their findings and observations before choosing the finalists.
"What impressed me about this year’s submissions was the creativity," said Linda Burns, incentives consultant at BDG/WDG Consulting. "Although there are significant exceptions, our planning and development to accommodate our rapid growth seemed to take a more utilitarian approach in recent years. This year’s creativity in planning and design caters to our work and lifestyle changes."
Deals are named as finalists to particular categories and each category has a winner. Category winners are revealed live at the Best Real Estate Deals Awards event on April 29.
You can access a full list of the finalists in the gallery below, listed alphabetically by category, then deal title.
“Every single one of the submitted projects shows vision combined with strong understanding of the needs of the communities they serve," said Marshall Mills, president & CEO of Weitzman. "I’m proud to be a part of a team asked to judge projects that reflect the highest standards of our industry, but it’s not easy with such outstanding entries.”
Additionally, all deals that have been selected as finalists are eligible to win the Deal of the Year award.
"This year’s winners were a collective group of outstanding overachievers," said Susan Arledge, executive managing director of Site Selection at esrp. "As a rule, these winners reinforce that successful people form the habit of doing the things that unsuccessful people don’t want to do. If you really want something, then you have to have the guts to stake everything on it."
This year's judges were:
- Susan Arledge, executive managing director of Site Selection at esrp
- Evan L. Beattie, chairman & CEO, GFF
- Linda Burns, incentives consultant at BDG/WDG Consulting
- Chuck Dannis, senior managing director, National Valuation Consultants, Inc.
- Allen Gump, executive vice president, Colliers
- Linda McMahon, president & CEO, The Real Estate Council
- Marshall Mills, president & CEO of Weitzman
- Ted Wilson, principal, Residential Strategies, Inc.
- John Zikos, principal, Venture Commercial Real Estate, LLC
"I've been fortunate to be a judge for this event for at least two decades. The reason I love to do so is that every year ... (is) the bar kept being raised. For every category. For every submission. Not just bigger deals, but more creative," said Dannis. "The DFW real estate community just keeps getting better, stronger and more involved every year."
MERRIMAN SELECTED FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
In addition, judges selected Jerry Merriman, founder and president of Merriman Anderson/Architects, Inc., to receive this year's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Merriman and his firm have renovated a number of historic in recent years, with recent notable projects like The Statler Hotel, 1401 Elm, the old Dallas High School and the Tower Petroleum Building.
Jerry received the 2019 Downtown Dallas, Inc. Chairman’s Award, as well as the 2019 Topping Out Visionary Award from DDI. In 2018, his firm received the Texas Historical Commission’s Award of Excellence in Historic Architecture and in 2017 MAA received the Firm of the Year Award from AIA Dallas.
His firm is responsible for the restoration of 30 historic buildings in downtown Dallas and Fort Worth.
The awards event for the Best Real Estate Deals of 2019 will be held from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas. Click here for more information on the event.